An Indian Wedding: Sheetal & Jason Part 4

Here it is! The final ballroom set. I can't wait to share all of the pro pics when they come in. Glam, Bling and Flowers everywhere - just what Sheetal wanted!

Congratulations Jason & Sheetal. Thank you for letting me be a part of your amazing wedding. I wish you many years of love and happiness!

An Indian Wedding: Sheetal & Jason Part 3

Saturday morning we were at Our Lady of Snows Catholic Church for Jason & Sheetal's christian ceremony. Sheetal wore a beautiful A line wedding gown with custom crystal and bead work on the side. She was stunning!

After the ceremony we headed over the the Hyatt Wind Watch for the reception. There was so much going on it was amazing. Major decor installation in the ballroom, cherry blossom trees lining the foyer hallway, ice bar installation, glow bar installation are just a few of the major items that were going on.

Here's a few of the before pictures that I snapped during set up. I was honestly a tiny bit concerned that we weren't going to finish on time, but as always, it magically comes together with time to spare.

Sorry for the blurry photos - they were snapped on my iphone and it's not the best camera as you can see...but you get the idea.

Tomorrow - the completed reception!

An Indian Wedding: Sheetal & Jason Part 2

After the first ceremony, we tore down the beautifully modern pink mandap and made room for the second, more traditional mandap for the actual wedding ceremony. This mandap was red, white a gold - traditional Indian colors.

There was a beautiful red runner lined with red and white rose petals, as well as a custom monogram made from red and white flowers. It was so beautiful! We had closer to 400 guests in attendance for the second ceremony. The groom arrived and remained outside until the bride's family greeted him - this is known as a Baraat. A more traditional Baraat would have had him arrive at the ceremony on a horse or similar animal. Jason didn't want to do this, so his white limo was just a good!

I couldn't believe how beautiful the saris were that the women wore. Sheetal's was so gorgeous in a deep red and gold...and the jewelery...oh my! I was feeling very under dressed!

The Wedding Ceremony Mandap

The Program

Guests are arriving!

Here comes the groom!

A groomsman and bridesmaid. I just love the pink & white!

Here comes the bride!

An Indian Wedding: Sheetal & Jason Part 1

As you may have seen I jetted off to NYC last week for my very first Indian Wedding experience. What a fantastic time I had to Preeti & her team! I'll be sharing images all week of the various parts of the weekend.

First up is the Sathak ceremony. I understand that typically this ceremony takes place in the home of the bride. This was not possible with over 350 guests in attendance for Sheetal's ceremony. Instead, we were at the Chateau Briand in Long Island.

Preeti & her team created a modern, glitzy mandap for this first ceremony. Sheetal loves flowers and crystals and wanted something on the modern side for this ceremony. I have to apologize for the blurry photo but it's the only one I snapped and didn't realize it until much later. Preeti has promised to send the pro pics once she gets them back from the photographers. I'll definitely share this with you as well so you can get a real feel for what she created.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

I'm off to the Big Apple today for an exciting wedding filled weekend with Preeti of Preeti Exclusive Creations! I'll have pictures and stories to share next week when I return.

Happy Friday!

Happy Birthday Bliss & That

Today the Bliss & That blog officially turns 1!

I can't believe an entire year has gone by already. I'm so happy to be able to share this important milestone with you! In honor of our Big "1st" Birthday we thought we'd do a little contest! As you know, we at Bliss & That, love the little details, unique touches and beautiful decor that really brings everything together at a wedding. We're asking you to share your most favorite detail, personal touches or decor items that you think really make a wedding. At the end of the contest we'll pick 5 lucky winners and share some of our favorite treats, shopping splurges and other fun stuff with you.

Here are the official rules:

Contest dates: Beginning today March 25th and ending on April 1st (that's no joke either! hee hee).

Who: You - our Bliss & That readers (brides, planners, anyone can join in)

Where: Right here at Bliss & That

Why: Because it's fun and we're celebrating. We'd ultimately like to showcase our favorites from your comments and submissions. Yay!

Prizes: Include gift cards from Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream (have no worries - they ship anywhere in the US!), A beautiful treat box from Pistacia Vera, an always useful Target Gift Card, a first edition copy of Southern Weddings Magazine just to name a few!

How: Feel free to post comments directly to the blog, and if you've got images to share to accompany your comment please email those to info@blisseventsohio.com.

Photo courtesy of Anne at Pink Cake Box.com

Who's the Big Bad Wolf?

There are tons of blogs that get down on the wedding industry, and especially the Biggest, Baddest Wolf of them all, the evil Wedding Planner. They say we are taking brides for a ride on their "big day" and fueling the trend in Bridezillas, but I really wanted to know what the percentages were for each category, who was making the most money in the industry that is reportedly fueled by greed and self indulgence.

What I found, surprised me and I think it's important to outline EVERYTHING that is included in the SIXTY BILLION DOLLAR a year figure that the wedding industry reportedly pumps back into the economy. The number don't include all the money spent on books, magazines and websites created by the bride and groom. How much can that add? My guess is it's equal to the wedding planning figures.

First off, did you know that in 2006 Wedding Registry was a $20,000,000,000 (TWENTY BILLION) dollar a year industry all by itself? That doesn't take into fact all the people working on the wedding, that is just what people spent on gifts for the bride and all the things the bride & groom asked their guests to buy for them in exchange for an invitation to their wedding. That was in 2006, I cannot locate 2008 figures, but with inflation it is safe to assume that it probably went up by a few million.

So here are the stats and what they include....next time you're picking up that Le Creuset pot and you're anti big bad wedding industry...consider that between registry & reception costs that is just under 50% of the industry right there. Then add in Jewelry and you're at 62%. Those three account for over $49,499,852,691 dollar.

Oh, and the big, bad wedding planner who takes everybody's money? 2%

Update: Full stats are available via .pdf download at the end of the post....

The Wedding Registry $20,000,000,000
All Wedding Registrys Combined $20,000,000,000.00

Ceremony: $3,141,133,867
Aisle Runner $115,651,166
Ceremony Location $2,384,867,234
Other Accessories or Decorations - Ceremony $480,346,606
Ring Pillow or Box $78,853,068
Unity Candle $81,415,793

Entertainment $2,569,755,774
Band at ceremony $98,434,913
Band at reception $392,294,013
Dance lessons $253,709,746
DJ at ceremony $298,765,513
DJ at reception $938,395,316
Musician/s at ceremony $410,079,761
Musician/s at reception $178,076,512

Flowers $2,340,140,022
Boutonnieres, Corsages $227,929,174
Bridal Bouquet $323,823,266
Bridesmaid Bouquets $302,160,576
Ceremony Flower Arrangements $513,683,931
Flower Girl Flowers $130,633,249
Flower Petals $133,546,432
Reception Flower Arrangements $708,363,394

Photography/Video: $4,774,246,617
Engagement Photographer $641,820,166
Engagement Videographer $837,813,848
Wedding Photographer $2,332,736,595
Wedding Videographer $961,876,008

Planner: $1,249,492,573
A La Carte Services $111,839,935
Day-of-Coordinator $178,470,777
For Getting Started $84,241,361
Full Service $722,381,717
Month-of-Direction $152,558,783

Reception: $19,201,663,915
Hotel Room for After Reception $415,511,861
Other Accessories or Decorations - Reception $445,191,280
Reception Bar Service $3,537,983,836
Reception Food Service $5,911,264,050
Reception Location $4,349,841,882
Reception Rentals (Tent, Table, Chairs, Etc.) $2,883,065,299
Reception Table Centerpieces $617,967,113
Toasting Flutes $157,881,365
Wedding Cake $699,842,882
Wedding Cake Topper and Serving Set $183,114,347

Source
Want to see it broken down by category, you can download a very large .pdf Excel Spreadsheet Download Weddingindustry reports

A big Thank You to Sasha Souza, who originally shared this on her blog: Sparkliatti!, for allowing me to repost this to share with our Bliss & That readers! Thanks Sasha!

Wedding Insurance

I always recommend wedding insurance but in light of a few recent occurrences with wedding vendors in Columbus I feel even more strongly that it is necessary to carry this type of insurance these days. Just recently we've had:

• One of our top florists close up shop in the middle of the night with no warning.
• A wedding venue closed due to financial problems. People were left with no wedding venue and lost all of their deposit money with little or no hope of recovering it.

There are several insurance companies that specialize in wedding insurance to help protect yourself against situations like I've mentioned above. If for any reason your wedding has to be cancelled or rescheduled due to an unforeseen circumstance you can be protected. They can also provide liability insurance if your venue or facility requires you to carry this to hold your wedding on their property. For my wedding we were in a museum and we were required to carry $1 Million Liability insurance. I believe we paid around $350 for this coverage - and that was almost 5 years ago. The insurance coverage is pretty inexpensive when you look at the grand total of the amount being spent/invested in the wedding.

Wed Safe and Travelers are the two most common wedding insurance companies. I highly recommend you visit their websites to see how you can protect your self and your wedding investments. It's always better to be safe than sorry in my book!

Happy St Patrick's Day!

In honor of St Patrick's Day I thought this awesome treat from Bakerella (one of my favorite baker/treat blogs) was so perfect to share. If you love Oreos (and who doesn't?) and mint these will be a new favorite treat you won't be able to put down.

Mint Oreo Truffles

1 pkg. Double Stuf Oreos - Cool Mint Flavor - (1 lb. , 1 oz. pkg.)

• use 22 cookies with cream centers included

• use 10 cookies with cream centers discarded

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, room temperature chocolate bark or candy coating*

Finely crush the cookies in a food processor or a ziploc bag with a rolling pin.

Stir in softened cream cheese. Use the back of a large spoon to help mash the two together completely.

Roll the mixture into 1" balls and place on wax paper covered cookie sheet.

Place covered in freezer or refrigerator for a few minutes to help retain shape when dipping in melted chocolate.

Melt chocolate as directed on the package and then dip balls into chocolate, tap off extra and set aside on wax paper covered cookie sheet to dry.

Refrigerate and enjoy!

*Or, go green: white chocolate bark/candy coating for dipping green candy melts for dipping

Make your green and/or white shamrocks first (see picture below). You can use a ziploc bag with a small corner cut off or a decorating bag with with a small round tip attached to make the shamrocks. Use a toothpick to direct chocolate into desired shamrock shape. (Of course, in hindsight, this would have been a lot easier if I had found some little shamrock sprinkles.) Let dry.

Then, dip half the truffles in white chocolate and the other half in green.

If necessary, dip them again for a smooth finish. I found it necessary, especially for the white ones.

Then, on the second dipping, while still wet, press your cooled shamrocks gently on the top of your truffles.

For another effect, you can take the ziploc bag of chocolate and drizzle across each truffle with the alternating color.

Accomplice

This has to be the coolest idea for an interactive city tour I've ever seen. I SOOOO want to go and participate in Accomplice in NYC.

What is it you ask?

Part game, part theater, and part tour, Accomplice productions are unlike anything found in a theater, sending its audience on an actual journey through the streets of the city. Armed with a few initial bits of information, participants are sent on a mission, aided by clues and mysterious cast members strewn throughout various locations such as street corners, bars, out of the way shops, and seedy alleys. Audiences in groups of up to 10 traverse the city streets, piecing together clues of a meticulously crafted plot.

The Accomplice sites, naturally are kept secret - it's all part of the fun.

Who's in on it? Who's not? Accomplice is an experience you won't soon forget. "Not enough information," you say? Trust us—the fun is in the surprises.

Each production is a unique adventure, and no previous knowledge of other Accomplice shows is necessary.

There is also an Accomplice Village (which takes place in Greenwich Village) & an Accomplice Hollywood (in West Hollywood).

Anyone want to take a trip to give it a try with me?